I thought it had only been a week or so since I posted last - time does fly. I've actually been fairly productive this month. I finally started a new screenplay, having not worked on anything screenplay-related since last June. I started relearning a bit of French through Duolingo, which has been a fun little diversion thus far. We'll see how long I stick with it once it gets actually tough. (I was violently reminded of how finicky French is with articles, though, ugh. After having not worrying about articles at all doing Latin all these years, it was a jolt.)

I need to get back working on The Orphan Queen. I go through fallow periods with it, but even when I'm not actively writing, I am usually thinking about it. I have a very clear sense of so much of what is to come, and I think one of the reasons I take breaks now and then is because I know how long it will take me to write all I have planned. I think I end up feeling discouraged not at the amount of work, but that I can't just download the novel out of my brain. I always worry that I'm going to lose something in the process - which is silly, because nine times out of ten I end up writing something I didn't expect, or dramatizing something in a different way than planned, and it's far better than what I had tumbling about in my head prior.

Day 5 - Least Favorite Episode of Favorite Show

Again, I'm picking a favorite show, not necessarily my single favorite show - mostly because I don't think I could pick just one. The truth is, I don't tend to dwell on bad episodes. I watch them, shudder, erase them from my personal canon, and never watch them again. In this case, I can't even remember much of the episode, the plot details, character decisions, anything, really, so it's hard to actually justify, other than that I know I was tempted to turn the TV off halfway through, and I never do that.

Battlestar Galactica - 3x14 - "The Woman King"

I know it had something to do with some crazy doctor where the refugees were living on Galactica, and that the whole episode was rewritten at the last minute because they ended up cutting a long-running subplot, and that Helo is basically The Best and Greatest Character of Our Times throughout, and by the time the episode was over I hated him. And that's pretty much all I remember! But I know it was awful.

I'm using duolingo to learn Spanish. And I tried brushing up on my French that way, but I was getting confused with too many languages at the same time, since my app is in German, but it makes me translate from English to another foreign language. :SSometimes I wish it had a bit more explanation regarding the grammar and rules, but overall it's a fun way to get into a new language and pick up some skills.

Yeah, that's sort of my one complaint about Duolingo - I know a lot of people learn best through immersion, but I do like knowing the actual rules and grammar and such. I've picked up a couple French books at the library to sort of round out my instruction, such as it is.